Spins Are Wild: Western Star

Summary

Lora's in the middle of a messy divorce with her bull rider ex-husband. Just because she left the WBR circuit and is making a name for herself as a trainer, now his buckle bunny of a girlfriend thinks she can take half of Lora's farm, her two best horses, and even her truck and trailer in the divorce and do the same thing. Lora's tired of propping up Billy and it is long past time he learned to cowboy up and take responsibility for his own life. She's swearing off men for good. Until her best friend introduces her to an up and coming D-series barrel racer with plans of his own.

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Spins Are Wild - Mary Kit Caelsto

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< Spins Are Wild >

Western Star Book 1

Mary Kit Caelsto

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Chapter One

Lora cantered Badger through the pattern one more time to make sure he had stopped dropping his inside shoulder. Satisfied he listened to her cues, she rode him out of the arena and down the long alley. Leaving the gate open, she stopped him, counted to three, then urged the gelding forward. Go!

Badger bolted down the arena, already at a dead run as he passed through the timer’s eye. Lora guided him to the right and they made it around the first barrel and across the arena in a blink of an eye. The second barrel remained standing as they raced for the third. Lora’s heart pounded. Adrenaline flooded her veins. She kept focused, offering the cues so he’d keep his shoulder lifted…and they circled the final barrel without so much as making it even rock back and forth. Down the arena he ran and the timer beeped as they passed through, and she pulled him up before they hit the fence at the end of the alley.

When she glanced back at the time, she liked what she saw. Good boy. She patted Badger’s neck and lengthened the reins. She walked him until he stopped blowing, thrilled with the progress. If they kept training like this, he’d be ready for McAllister at the end of the month, no problems. She dismounted and patted his neck once more. Releasing the cinch, she led him back to his stall since it was close enough to feeding time to not turn him back out into the pasture. Already Diana, her working student, was leading in the other horses, both hers and boarders.

Under fifteen seconds, Lora said as she fastened Badger into the crossties. She pulled off his saddle and wet blanket, setting them on the rack where his bridle hung and reached for a brush.

That’s great. He’s ready to go. You taking Lolly? Diana called as she closed a stall door after bringing the aforementioned Lolly, a pretty palomino paint who loved to run, in for the night.

Thinking about it. We’ll see. Lora finished brushing Badger and put him back into his stall. She would review her choices after another week and a half of training. She had plenty of time to decide which horses to take to McAllister.

Daisy walked down the aisle, pausing at Paco’s stall where he already nibbled on some leftover hay from breakfast. Well shoot. I had hoped to get a ride in before supper time. She whipped out her iPhone and checked the time. Crap. I didn’t realize it was this late.

Lora smiled. With her Christian home school upbringing, Daisy never swore, and the occasional crap and shoot were as harsh as her language ever got, even after that time Paco decided to buck his way through the barrel pattern. She stopped next to Paco’s stall. I can bring them in later tomorrow if you like. You thinking about taking him to McAllister?

She nodded. I was. Wanted to talk to you about trailer space. Daisy shrugged, her long naturally blonde ponytail bouncing with the movement. Got time now since I’m here?

Sure. Let’s go up to the house. I need to check on supper. Hey Diana, you got anyone you’re going to be taking to McAllister in my trailer?

Diana shook her head. There’s a cattle sale that weekend in town as well, so we’re taking the big truck and trailer. Jason wants to see if he can pick us up some bargains and the trailer has a good divider.

Okay. That’s good to know. I’ll take you off my list. The two women walked up the small hill to the house. She came in the back door, kicking off her boots.

Boots on or off? Daisy asked.

Lora glanced down. On is fine. They’re not dirty. In fact, even after spending an entire afternoon at the barn, she’d never seen Daisy get more than a speck of dirt on her. How she managed to keep clean—it had to be magic. She ignored the stack of mail sitting on the table just inside the door. Later, she’d go through it and the envelope from Richmond, Howser, & Pruitt, the leading attorneys in town. Not right now. Not tonight. She grabbed her sports bottle of water from the fridge and offered a drink to Daisy.

I’m good, she said and took a seat at the kitchen table.

Lora grabbed her battered spiral bound notebook with Show Stuff written on it in big black permanent marker. These days people might be using their smart phones and google calendars to coordinate everything. She preferred good old paper and pencil. A phone dropped in a portable toilet had screwed up everything last year; she refused to go through that again and had gone back to paper and pencil. As long as a horse or someone’s dog didn’t chew the corners, she was good. She flipped it open to the paper clipped page with McAllister 2018 written across the top, and in a grid the dates of the four competitions to be held there this year. The first one already had places for Lolly and Badger written down as two of the eight horses she could haul. She penciled in Paco, making him number three.

You taking anyone else?

Scooter is still slightly off in the front leg. I have the vet coming out this week for some more x-rays and maybe a nerve block. She frowned, then quickly smoothed out her expression.

I’m sure the doc will get to the bottom of it. She patted Daisy’s arm. Scooter was her old